This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Work on this project has been ongoing since the summer of 2010. Major accomplishments include: 1.Recruitment of 3 undergraduate and 1 graduate student in research activity. This included the completion of an honors thesis project for one undergraduate student, Jesse Orloff, involving bioinformatic analysis of Slit2. 2. Submission of primary research article publishing the novel findings of Slit2-mediated regulation of hematopoietic stem cells. The manuscript has been reviewed and is currently under revision for the journal Blood. 3. Student research activities include: a. Jesse Orloff i. completion of honors thesis [unreadable]"Determination of Expression Profiles and Regulatory Elements for Slit2 with Gene Expression and Genomic Databases" ii. submission of abstract for Experimental Biology - "Determination of Expression Profiles and Regulatory Elements for Slit2 with Gene Expression and Genomic Databases" iii. work as lab assistant b. Sam Handshoe i. evaluating effects of Slit2 on NIH-3T3 cell growth c. Johnna Sizemore i. Designing primers for analysis of SNPs in the regulatory regions of the Slit2 gene in mice d. Abagail Cornette i. Designing experiments for Masters thesis to evaluate the effects of Slit2 on cell cycle activity